A/N: I don't own TMNT.

I hope y'all are ready for a chapter full of action, and, um, sadness! Be prepared to (maybe) cry a little...or a lot...


"DONNIE!"

The purple clad turtle jumped out of surprise when he heard his name. He'd just settled down in the kitchen, grabbing a slice of yummy pizza and was just about to bite into it when Mikey screamed. Mikey had sounded scared and shocked. Donnie left his pizza and ran to the source of the scream: Leo's room.

The sight startled him. Raph lay unconscious, bloody and bruised, with a gleaming katana by his neck, ready to swipe. The katana wielder - Leo - appeared fine. His eyes weren't even red... they were blue, but a careful inspection proved them to be slightly glazed over, as if he wasn't actually seeing anything. Mikey stood by Raph, gaping with shock at the scene, horrified to see his older brother like this.

Donnie reached for his bo staff, but a scary, dreadful, monotone voice stopped him.

"Make one move and he's dead," Leo threatened, nodding to Raph. Donnie gulped, unsure of what to do. Leo could easily slice of Raph's head with just one swipe of his sharp sword. And Donnie couldn't do anything to stop it.

"L-Leo? H-how could you do this? He's your brother!" Mikey said, shaking, shivering, holding back tears he must have been desperately wanting to shed. Raph was always there to protect him, even when he was mad at the silly pranks he did, and now he was...

Mikey shook his head. He didn't want to say gone. Not like Master Splinter. But Raph was, um, unavailable!

"Please, Leo, just let him go. He didn't do anything to you," Donnie attempted to reason.

But Leo wouldn't hear any of it. "What about all the times he fought me? All the times he made me think I was a failure? All the times he hurt me, but I didn't show it?"

Donnie stood still, stunned. Leo was hurting? That's why he was hurting his brothers?

But he was (...as Raph always called him...) the Fearless Leader! The eldest turtle who'd always protect his younger brothers no matter what, who'd never let them down, who'd always be there for them.

But not anymore...?

No. Donnie shook his head. It couldn't be. Leo would not do something like this. Something else was doing this to him, controlling him, making him hurt his brothers. Something like...his dark side...

Mikey broke the silence. His sadness and shock had turned into anger. "LET RAPH GO! HE'S MY BROTHER!" he yelled, suddenly taking out his nunchucks and dragging Leo's katana away from the unconscious, red clad turtle.

Leo turned his head around and stared at the youngest turtle. Mikey's heart was pounding, scared of what his oldest brother might do to him, but he was still proud of himself for being able to do something, at the very least.

Mikey saw the second katana in Leo's other hand. Oh no! Mikey had forgotten about that...

"I warned you," Leo said simply before turning back to Raph. Holding the sharp, gleaming katana, right next to Raph's neck.

Just one swipe...

"NO!" Mikey yelled, and ran in front of Raph as fast as he could, protecting his older brother. He was suddenly thankful for his gift of speed and agility.

Donnie blinked, suddenly aware of the scene in front of him. He'd been lost in thought about Leo's dark side, when all of a sudden, he saw the katana move. A spatter of blood was let out, followed by several more...

No! Donnie looked with horror at Mikey's bleeding, injured, cut stomach. The youngest turtle's face contorted into an expression of pain.

No. No. NO!

"MIKEY!" Donnie ran to the bleeding turtle, who was falling down. The pain was too much for him, and as much as he knew he needed to stay awake, he just couldn't. It hurt too much...

"M-Mikey?" a weak, bewildered voice behind Donnie startled him. Donnie whipped around, ready to use his bo staff on Leo if needed, but stopped. The leader's eyes were normal, unglazed, but also filled with growing tears. He looked as if he was in pain, too, but not physical pain.

"No," Leo said, looking down, as tears ran down his face. "No...I couldn't - I didn't -"

Donnie's heart broke upon seeing Leo seem so...broken. But how could he not be? He'd just hurt two of his brothers, and could have possibly hurt the third, all due to his dark side.

But he didn't have time to console Leo now. Now, he had to treat his other brothers' wounds.


"Are-are they going to be...okay?"

Donnie looked up. Leo stood still, looking so forlorn and sad and...lost. And surprised. As if he couldn't believe he had been the ones to hurt his brothers so severely.

"Well, Mikey has a big slash on his stomach, but it will heal. Good thing I was able to treat him quickly so he didn't lose too much blood. It will take a while for it to heal, maybe a couple weeks, but he'll be fine. He should wake up soon, though," Donnie replied.

"What about...Raph?" Leo asked with a shuddering breath.

"I-I couldn't get to him as soon as I got to Mikey. His shoulder stitched opened again, so I had to stitch them again. And he did suffer a pretty hard blow to the back of his head, so he might be out a few more hours. But he should be fine. He'll heal eventually," Donnie said in what his brothers called "Doctor Donnie Mode."

"I-I'm so sorry," Leo mumbled. "I-I didn't mean to...I didn't want to... but he made me..."

The older turtle was met with a warm, comforting three-fingered hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Leo, I know. We know."

"You don't understand..." Leo whispered, tears filling his eyes. "I-I'm supposed to protect them, like a brother. But instead I-I hurt them...like a monster...

"I'm a monster," he said, his body rocking as the sound of his sobs filled the lab.

Donnie opened his mouth to say something, but Leo interrupted him. "I tried so hard. But it wasn't hard enough... I should have tried harder...

"I'm a failure..."

"Leo! Look, you're not a monster, you're not a failure, you are our brother. And what that means is that you never give up." Donnie paused, adding, "Like a fearless leader."

Leo looked up, straight into Donnie's chocolatey brown eyes to say what he'd never been able to tell Raph, or Mikey, or even Master Splinter. "I'm not fearless," he shuddered, "I'm afraid."

Donnie blinked, shocked, but tried to hide it. "You're afraid of what?"

"I'm afraid of hurting you guys more. Look how much damage I've already done! I don't want to k-k-"

"Don't say it." Donnie's sudden outburst made Leo, who'd looked down, to look up again.

Donnie continued. "Leo, you don't have to be afraid, we can help you. We will help you. You just need to tell us how."

"But I don't know how to stop him!" Leo yelled. His sobs stopped, and he could feel a growing anger rising inside of him.

But Donnie was quick enough to squeeze Leo into a hug, something completely unlike his character yet so soothing it made Leo feel a whole lot better. "It's alright. We'll figure out how."

And that hug was all it took for Leo's anger to dissipate, for his sadness to resurface, for him to realize one very important thing:

Just earlier today, and even when he'd seen Master Splinter, he hadn't been able to cry, just like the note had said: Just how many times have you wanted to cry but couldn't even shed a single tear?

Well, now, he'd been able to cry. Let everything out to his genius younger brother. And it felt as good as heck!

"It's gonna be okay," Donnie said, still embracing Leo.

For once in the past few days, Leo was at peace.


A/N: Now we end on a high note, but that doesn't mean everything's going to be so great in the next chapter... or will it be? ;)

Remember to review, follow, and favorite! Reviews mean so much to me. You guys give me GREAT feedback, which I appreciate a lot, and tell me that you actually enjoy my story and that you're interested in it! But I've also been getting some rude ones. So my comment: please review, I love to read them, but please keep it polite! I get some nice ones that really make my day!

I can't believe school starts so soon...I'll get busy and might not be able to update so much. :/ But I'll try!

~NS